Mining country says 'No' to the 'War on Coal' (Mark Mardell/BBC)

[eppur_se_muova]

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Coal was a big factor in the mid-term elections here, with signs saying, "No to the war on coal". The Democratic governor was elected senator, partly based on the strength of a notorious advert that showed him taking aim at US President Barack Obama's plans for a carbon tax.

The Republicans made coal the centre piece of their campaign, too - and there's no doubt the cap and trade bill is as dead as can be. Few expect much out of the climate summit in Cancun, but the president will now find it difficult to live up to the promises he made in Copenhagen last year. But this isn't all - the Republicans hope to roll back existing legislation at the national and state level.
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"I do not believe in global warming. The earth has natural cycles. If you go back to the days of the dinosaurs when this coal was formed, we were in the middle of a tropical swamp. So the earth changes, that's natural. I don't believe it is manmade."

Mr Howell wants to introduce a bill that would allow 38 new mines to open in the state, even though they have been denied a licence by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). He argues that because the coal is all used within the state, the federal government should not have any right to interfere.
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He adds: "What my bill does, it says where there is no interstate commerce, when the coal never leaves the borders, then the Environmental Protection Agency has no authority. There are some 38 mines that right now are shut down. My bill opens those mines up to start helping our economy. It reverses what the Obama administration has done."
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more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/markmardell/




A discouraging report/editorial.

[pscot]

1. We're doomed.

Balls to the wall. We're gonna fly it right into the ground.

[Kolesar]

2. The freak minority has way too much power in this country...eom

[Nihil]

3. You've got that right! (n/t)